How Chinese income tax is withheld, month by month
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Annual take-home (salary + bonus)
¥0
Monthly average ¥0 · Annual tax ¥0 · Effective rate 0%
- Social insurance & fund ¥0
- Income tax ¥0
- Take-home ¥0
Your income
In CNYSocial insurance & housing fund (employee share)
Special deductions (monthly allowance)
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Take-home pay, 12 months
Darker = heavier tax that monthWhich bonus method saves more tax
Same money, two methodsSeparate taxation
Tax¥0
CheaperCombined income
Tax¥0
CheaperMonth-by-month breakdown
| Month | Tax this month | Take-home | Cumulative paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ¥0 | ¥0 | ¥0 |
What an hour of this job is worth
¥0/ hour (annual take-home ÷ annual hours worked)
Why December's paycheck is smaller
The first time I noticed this was the year my salary hit 18,000 a month. January take-home was 14,230; December was 13,180 — a gap of 1,050. I asked HR and got "the tax bracket jumped" with no follow-up.
Only after breaking the formula apart myself did it make sense: income tax isn't calculated month by month in isolation. January is withheld lightly because it's the starting point for the year. As cumulative income climbs, you cross into higher brackets and withholding gets heavier.
The annual total is not a cent more — the money is just collected toward the end of the year.
Cumulative withholding: every month recalculates the year
Each month, your employer adds up salary from January through that month, subtracts the cumulative 5,000 × months, cumulative social insurance, and cumulative special deductions to get a cumulative taxable income. That figure is looked up in the annual rate table to find "tax owed through this month," then what was already withheld is subtracted — the remainder is this month's tax.
So in January the cumulative amount covers only one month and sits safely in the 3% bracket. By July, cumulative income passes 36,000, the rate jumps to 10%, and that month's withholding multiplies. That's where "tax keeps rising in later months" on your payslip comes from.
| Annual taxable income | Rate | Quick deduction |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 36,000 | 3% | 0 |
| 36,000 – 144,000 | 10% | 2,520 |
| 144,000 – 300,000 | 20% | 16,920 |
| 300,000 – 420,000 | 25% | 31,920 |
| 420,000 – 660,000 | 30% | 52,920 |
| 660,000 – 960,000 | 35% | 85,920 |
| Over 960,000 | 45% | 181,920 |
The year-end bonus trap: one yuan more, two thousand less
Separate taxation for the year-end bonus works like this: divide the bonus by 12 to find the rate, then apply it to the full amount. The catch is that the quick deduction is subtracted only once, not twelve times.
A 36,000 bonus at 3% means 1,080 in tax and 34,920 take-home. A 36,001 bonus divided by 12 just crosses 3,000, the rate jumps to 10%, tax becomes 3,390, and take-home drops to 32,611 — one yuan more gross, 2,309 less net.
The same cliff exists at 144,000, 300,000, 420,000, 660,000, and 960,000. Inside the critical range, earning more means taking home less, so capping the bonus at the threshold is actually optimal. The tool above flags it if you land in one.
If it doesn't match your payslip, it's usually one of three things
Social insurance bases have floors and ceilings. If your salary is 30,000 but the local ceiling is 22,000, contributions are calculated on 22,000, and a rate-based estimate comes out too high.
Housing fund rates vary by employer — anywhere from 5% to 12% is legal, a twofold difference. Whether meal allowances, transport subsidies, and year-end pay count toward the base also differs by company.
For an exact figure, set Manual monthly deduction to the actual amount on your payslip — more reliable than any estimate. I wouldn't recommend using this page to argue with HR; a mismatch is normal.
Common questions
Why is my December pay lower than January?
Because tax is withheld cumulatively. Each month, your income from January through that month is totaled, tax is calculated on the running total, and what you already paid is subtracted. Once cumulative income crosses into a higher bracket, later months get withheld harder and take-home drops. The annual total is correct — it's just front-loaded light and back-loaded heavy.
Will this match my payslip?
Broadly yes, to the cent no. Social insurance bases have local floors and ceilings, and housing fund rates, large medical mutual aid, meal and transport allowances all vary in whether they count toward the base. For an exact figure, switch social insurance to manual and enter the actual deduction from your payslip.
Is separate taxation or combined income better for the year-end bonus?
It depends on your income level — there's no universal answer. If your salary is modest and deductions go unused, combining often saves more; at higher incomes, separate taxation usually wins. The tool already runs both on your numbers, so check the difference line.
Are the salary numbers I enter uploaded?
No. All calculations run in your browser, with no requests sent to a server and no account. Numbers are stored in this device's localStorage so you can pick up where you left off; switching devices or clearing cache loses them, and the Clear my data link in the footer deletes them completely.